LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STATISTICAL Suppose you wanted to use this scenario as a gauge of the morality of

CONCEPTS students at your school by determining the percent of students who would
Statistics return the money. How might you do this? You could attempt to present
Statistics is the science of collecting, organizing, summarizing, and the scenario to every student at the school, but this would be difficult or
analyzing information to draw conclusions or answer questions. In impossible if the student body is large. A second possibility is to present
addition, statistics is about providing a measure of confidence in any the scenario to 50 students and use the results to make a statement about
conclusions. all the students at the school.

Let’s break this definition into four parts. The first part states that In the PHP100 study presented, the population is all the students at the
statistics involves the collection of information. The second refers to school. Each student is an individual. The sample is the 50 students
the organization and summarization of information. The third states that selected to participate in the study.
the information is analyzed to draw conclusions or answer specific
questions. The fourth part states that results should be reported using Suppose 39 of the 50 students stated that they would return the money to
some measure that represents how convinced we are that our conclusions the owner. We could present this result by saying that the percent of
reflect reality. students in the survey who would return the money to the owner is 78%.
This is an example of a descriptive statistic because it describes the
•Statistics is important because it enables people to make decisions based results of the sample without making any general conclusions about
on empirical evidence. the population. So, 78% is a statistic because it is a numerical summary
based on a sample. Descriptive statistics make it easier to get an
• Statistics provides us with tools needed to convert massive data into overview of what the data are telling us.
pertinent information that can be used in decision making.
If we extend the results of our sample to the population, we are
• Statistics can provide us information that we can use to make sensible performing inferential statistics. The generalization contains uncertainty
decisions. because a sample cannot tell us everything about a population. Therefore,
inferential statistics includes a level of confidence in the results. So,
What information is referred to in the definition? rather than saying that 78% of all students would return the money, we
might say that we are 95% confident that between 74% and 82% of all
The information referred to the definition is the data. students would return the money. Notice how this inferential statement
includes a level of confidence (measure of reliability) in our results.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, data are “factual
information used as a basis for reasoning, discussion, or calculation”. It also includes a range of values to account for the variability in our
results. One goal of inferential statistics is to use statistics to estimate
Data can be numerical, as in height, or nonnumerical, as in gender. In parameters.
either case data describe characteristics of an individual.
PROCESS OF STATISTICS
Field of Statistics 1. Identify the research objective.
A. Mathematical Statistics- The study and development of statistical A researcher must determine the question(s) he or she wants answered.
theory and methods in the abstract. The question(s) must clearly identify the population that is to be studied.
Identify the research objective.
B. Applied Statistics- The application of statistical methods to solve real
problems involving randomly generated data and the development of new 2. Collect the information needed to answer the questions.
statistical methodology motivated by real problems. Conducting research on an entire population is often difficult and
expensive, so we typically look at a sample. This step is vital to the
Example branches of Applied Statistics: psychometric, econometrics, and statistical process, because if the data are not collected correctly, the
biostatistics. conclusions drawn are meaningless. Do not overlook the importance of
appropriate data collection.
Limitation of Statistics
● Statistics is not suitable to the study of qualitative phenomenon. Example: A research objective is presented. For each research objective,
● Statistics does not study individuals. identify the population and sample in the study.
● Statistical laws are not exact.
● Statistics table may be misused. Example:
● Statistics is only, one of the methods of studying a problem. 1. The Philippine Mental Health Associations contacts 1,028 teenagers
who are 13 to 17 years of age and live in Antipolo City and asked
Definitions of terms: whether or not they had been prescribed medications for any mental
• Universe is the set of all entities under study. disorders, such as depression or anxiety.
• A Population is the total or entire group of individuals or observations
from which information is desired by a researcher. Apart from persons, a Population: Teenagers 13 to 17 years of age who live in Antipolo City
population may consist of mosquitoes, villages, institution, etc. Sample: 1,028 teenagers 13 to 17 years of age who live in Antipolo City
• An individual is a person or object that is a member of the population
being studied. 2. A farmer wanted to learn about the weight of his soybean crop. He
• A statistic is a numerical summary of a sample randomly sampled 100 plants and weighted the soybeans on each plant.
• Sample is the subset of the population. Population: Entire soybean crop
• Descriptive statistics consist of organizing and summarizing data. Sample: 100 selected soybean crop
Descriptive statistics describe data through numerical summaries, tables,
and graphs. 3. Organize and summarize the information.
• Inferential statistics uses methods that take a result from a sample, Descriptive statistics allow the researcher to obtain an overview of the
extend it to the population, and measure the reliability of the result. data and can help determine the type of statistical methods the researcher
• A parameter is a numerical summary of a population. should use.

EXAMPLE: Consider the scenario. 4. Draw conclusion from the information.

You are walking down the street and notice that a person walking in front Take Note! If the entire population is studied, then inferential statistics is
of you drops PHP100. Nobody seems to notice the PHP100 except you. not necessary, because descriptive statistics will provide all the
Since you could keep the money without anyone knowing, would you information that we need regarding the population.
keep the money or return it to the owner?